Bookish Thoughts

I know Bridgerton is a modern classic of the genre, but I'm finding this series to be way more uneven than I expected. The Duke and I was fun, The Viscount Who Loved Me was perfect and cathartic. I was really excited for An Offer From a Gentleman , especially since the cover implied similarities to Cinderella. But I was underwhelmed. It didn't help that I really didn't like Benedict. He's pushy and patronizing, and it drives the plot, but I really needed him to back off. Sophie was lovely, but I have a hard time with the whole "I won't be a mistress, just a wife" plot line. Maybe I'm just too modern. So this book was disappointing. But I bought the whole series, and they're fun and light enough for me to keep going. Especially since the next book is Colin and Penelope, which I cannot wait for. I also just found out that Francesca's book takes place after her first husband died, and I'm really interested to see a romance starring a widow.

The hero in this book, Anthony, lives with an intense fear that he will die young. His father and uncle both died before reaching 40, and he has convinced himself that he will do the same. It shapes his entire life, most notably when it comes to marrying and having kids. Quinn notes that this tends to be a male fear and that she worries the women reading her book won't be able to relate to it. But it struck home in a weirdly unexpected way. You see, my husband's father died young. As did his father. We used to joke, blackly, that it had been a few generations since a man in his family had made it much past 60. And as irrational as it was, I entered my marriage fully expecting to outlive my husband. He would occasionally point out that there was no reason to believe he would die young. Nevertheless, in my heart of hearts, I did believe it. Of course, by young, I was thinking 60. Not 34. And now I have this fear, just as strong, just as irrational, that I will also outlive my son...

I picked this up in anticipation of the Netflix series, and I actually managed to read it before the series hit Netflix. This story was lovely and hilarious.I love that the series focuses on a family, and I love the Bridgerton's as a family. They're so warm and happy, and I can't wait to read about each and every one of them finding love of their own. I also love the framing of Lady Whistledown. I'm excited to find out who she is. I'm also really, really excited for the Netflix series to drop. It's going to be just the thing I need in the week between Christmas and New Year's

I adore Sarah MacLean, but this one took a while to grab me. Maybe it's just because I could see what was coming. Which is silly. I read romance for the predictability, and Sarah MacLean especially because I love what she does with the tropes. I guess I was just eager to get to the meat of it, and it started a bit slow. Mostly, though, I'm excited for what's coming next. MacLean has been laying the groundwork for her next series: Hell's Belles. I can hardly wait.

I've been wanting to read Courtney Milan for a while, though I'd been intending to start with her Brothers Sinister series. But then I came across this novel, her first, in a used book store, and I jumped at the chance. This was a cute historical romance. And while it does take place in London in the early 19th century like so much of the historical romances I read, it doesn't focus on the ton. The hero is rich, but the heroine is more middle class. She makes her living as a fortune teller, and it was nice to get a glimpse at how this other half lived back then. I liked this book, and I'll be keeping my eye out for more of Milan's work.

For a while it seemed like my husband might be recovering. We had hopes that we'd be able to bring him home, that he'd be able to have some kind of life. At the beginning of July he had a really good week. Then it took a sudden turn for the worse. He got the hiccups and they wouldn't go away. He didn't sleep for over 24 hours because they were so bad. On Monday morning, the doctor gave him something to make them stop and it worked. He was finally able to sleep, and I sat by his bed and read and waited for him to wake up again. He didn't wake up, and so I read this entire book, in a single day, sitting at his side and holding his hand and wondering where my happy ending went. Lisa Kleypas still isn't my favorite romance novelist. I liked the emphasis on female friendship in this series and the relationship between the various wallflowers. But I kept feeling like the men were getting a bit shorted. I wanted more of the perspective and fuller arcs for them. Still I...

This is the longest I've gone without updating this blog since I started it. I've got fifteen books waiting to be written about, which is the furthest I've ever fallen behind. I was already a bit behind when the doctors said my husband might only have a month left to live. That was six weeks ago, and while my reading pace has certainly slowed, it never quite stopped. At the moment things are more or less stable. Not getting any better, but not getting significantly worse either. And in this moment of calm I wanted to try and catch up on my backlog. But I'm starting with the most recent book I finished, Devil in Winter . I'll get to the others as I get to them. Time has stopped feeling linear in so many ways that I'm less concerned about this blog being perfectly chronological. Moreover, this book was surprisingly pertinent to my own situation. The heroine, Evie, spends a good chunk of the book taking care of her husband, Sebastian, while he convalesces after bei...

I must have adjusted to Lisa Kleypas' style, because I liked this book a whole lot more than the first one. I don't know that the hero actually had more scenes, but what he had seemed better paced. I actually felt like I got to see his arc rather than assuming that it happened off-page. But the majorty of the book was still devoted to Lillian and her friends. And it's the friendship between the wallflowers that really make these books special. Lillian is a fantastic heroine. She's rash and brash and full of energy. She doesn't like rules that make no sense, though she learns to appreciate that sometimes she doesn't know the reason behind a rule. Sometimes, of course, the rules are simply outdated and she's there to point that out. She's also wonderfully innocent - she has no idea how much she doesn't know - and that leads to some fun scenes as well. There are also a handful of scenes that give us glimpses into the heads of characters other than t...

I've read a decent number of romance novels at this point by several authors, both historical and contemporary. They've all followed the same format - alternating chapters between the hero and the heroine - and I started to think that was standard across the genre. Then I picked up my first Lisa Kleypas book and discovered a story that was 90% from the heroine's point of view with only the occasional insight into what the hero is thinking or feeling. It threw me for a curve, and I'm still disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time with Simon. I think he had an interesting arc going from bachelor to husband, and I'm sad that it mostly happened off-page. But I shouldn't expect all books in a genre to conform to a certain style - especially since I often seek out books that play with style and format on purpose. The lack of Simon also gave us a lot more time with the Wallflowers - Annabelle and her friends and their hunt for husbands. This ended up b...

It only took a couple of chapters for me to remember how much I absolutely love Sarah MacLean's books. Actually it didn't really take that long, but that's when I came up for air because I needed to sleep. Hattie is a force of nature in this book, and I fell in love with her from the first moment I met her. So it's no wonder that Beast did, too. The banter between these two was perfect, the sex scenes were amazing, and the plot was thrilling. In my head, Beast was played by Tom Hardy, thanks to all his grunting. Being able to visualize the hero like that made this book all the more enjoyable. Also, half the fun of these books, now that I've read literally everything MacLean has written, is seeing the cameos of characters from earlier books. I'm sure they were there in the other books I've read. But since I worked through her books out of order, I missed a lot of them. Here I was able to recognize all sorts of minor characters and it really makes her worl...

This book was a ton of fun. I loved the couple, especially Lady Penelope and her huge, caring heart. The two leads went from frustration to attraction a tad to quickly to be really believable, and Penelope overcame a metric ton of trauma without any outside help or support. But I don't read these books for the realism. I read them for the happy, in-love couple and the crackling chemistry and the sizzling sex scenes. And there were plenty of those. I actually prefer it when the couple gets together earlier. Slow burns are definitely enjoyable, but I like being able to actually watch the couple be happy together for a while on the page. And this book definitely had that. The issues keeping them apart were almost non-existent and easily dealt with. It was more just a matter of these two finding their way to each other and then letting themselves be happy. Which they both very much wanted to do. I'm excited for the last book in this series now. It's a lot of fun to follow a ...

I've been waiting to get to Georgiana's book for so long. I loved her cameos back in MacLean's Love by Numbers  books, and seeing her happily married in a later book had me itching to read her story. But of course I had to read the rest of the series first for the proper setup. And knowing what was coming made it that much more fun to watch a disguised Georgiana flirt with an oblivious Duncan. The attraction between these two is there from the very first pages, which I appreciate. Slow burns have nice payoffs, but it's also a lot of fun when the two people are attracted to each other from the get go and all their obstacles are external. And boy are there some obstacles in this one. Though it basically boils down to the fact that both of them have built their empires on secrets and manipulation. They've been lying to each other and about themselves for so long that they barely know how to tell the truth anymore. Especially about the important things. But that jus...

I was hesitant heading into this book. A lot of romance is somewhat contrived, but this premise seemed a bit much. Twelve years previously the heroine faked her own death and the hero was blamed for it. She disappeared and he had to live with a reputation as the "Killer Duke", which pushed him underground. And somehow the two of them are going to overcome this disastrous first meeting to find true love. It was a tall order. But I should know by now to trust MacLean. Halfway through the book she had completely won me over. It helped that the sex scenes were some of the hottest MacLean has ever written. But she's also just really good at finding the humanity in these absurd situations. She's also good at finding reasonable justifications for seemingly monstrous actions (I'm really excited for the last book in her Bare Knuckle Bastards series for this very reason). So ultimately I enjoyed this book. It wasn't my favorite MacLean, but it wasn't my least fa...

It's such a treat to be this close to reading all of an author's work and still be finding new favorites. One Good Earl Deserves a Lover  is definitely my favorite of MacLean's work. It has the adorably geeky and naive Phillipa, who is sure that she can conquer all her fears with knowledge. It has the incredibly repressed Cross who's so haunted by his past that he's denying himself every possible bit of pleasure. It has fun side plots and a wealth of interesting secondary characters. All that and a heist to boot. It's almost like this book was written just for me. Actually, this book put me in mind of a historical version of The Kiss Quotient . It's never stated or even hinted that Pippa might be on the spectrum, but that also was really a concept in the 1800s. She is described as strange. She hopes for nothing more than a kind husband who will let her go her own way. She's hungry for knowledge and follows her own pursuits without ever really caring ho...

I'm starting the last of Sarah MacLean's finished series, which is really impressive considering I only started reading her books a year or so ago. I can't remember the last time I tore through an author's entire backlog so quickly. But I'm getting ahead of myself - there are still a few of her books left that I haven't read. I don't expect that to be the case for long, though. This series focuses on the four co-owners of a gaming hell. Each has fled society for a different reason, each believes he is beyond redemption. Each will fall in love and be proven wrong. First up is Bourne, who lost his entire estate in a card game ten years prior. Since then he's focused only on regaining his land and getting revenge against the man who took it from him. When the land is attached to the dowry of his childhood friend, he coerces her into marriage. But he gets a lot more than he bargained for. Penelope has been out in society for nearly a decade by the time s...

After I finished Oathbringer , I was having a hard time deciding what to read next. How do you follow up a 1200+ page epic? But then I remembered that it was Pride month and I had this book on my shelf and things spiraled a little bit. So buckle up for a month's worth of LGBTQ+ reads, starting with this queer historical romance. I've read enough London-based historical romance at this point to recognize the trappings. The dukes and marquesses and social expectations, the balls and dinners and chaperones. There's a framework within which all of these romances must operate. And this was a fun twist on it. Charity is masquerading as her deceased employer and friend, Robert Selby in the hopes of helping his younger sister find a husband before anyone realizes that Robert is dead and the dowry disappears. They scrape together enough money to spend a season in London, and Charity exaggerates an old family connection to get her foot in the door with an influential marquess, Al...

This is the second book by Tessa Dare that I've read and the second one that I've absolutely loved. It follows Alex, who takes work as a governess for Chase's two young wards. Naturally, sparks fly. What I liked most about this book was Alex's confidence. She knows what she wants, she has a strong sense of what's right and wrong, and she never really wavers from that. While Chase is slowly putting himself together and learning how to be vulnerable again, she just keeps seeing new layers to him that make her fall more in love. Their banter is fantastic, and the two kids are pretty great, too. I also really like Alex's friends - the same core group form The Duchess Deal . I expect they'll each get their own book eventually, and I'm looking forward to reading more about the two remaining women in the group.

The danger of falling in love with a new genre is that it adds so many books to your TBR list. It's easy to do a bit of research and zero in on the authors that seem up your alley. And then suddenly you have to read everything that author has ever written. Romance is particularly dangerous in that most authors are pretty prolific. Which is a long way of saying that I loved my first Tessa Dare book. And now there's another 10+ books I need to read. It also makes me that much more eager to try the other authors I've seen talked about in the same articles: Julia Quinn, Courtney Milan, Lisa Kleypas. At least I'm already most of the way through Sarah MacLean's work. The Duchess Deal  is about an arranged marriage, sort of. The Duke of Ashbury was severely injured in the war (what war? It doesn't really matter). His fiance was horrified by his scars and refused to marry him. But the Duke needs an heir, so he proposes marriage to the first halfway respectable woman...

Romance novels are all about emotional catharsis. The better the book, the more wrung out and satisfied I feel at the end of it. So when I come across one where I just cry straight through the last five chapters, well, that's the dream. Eleven Scandals to Start... is about Juliana, the Italian half-sister of the St. John brothers who found love in the first two books in this series. I loved Juliana from the first moment. She's feisty and brave. And even though she's unsure about what she wants and what her place in society is, she doesn't let that stop her from defending herself. Her hero is Simon, also known as the Duke of Disdain. He cares for nothing but his reputation, and Juliana confounds him. But Simon won me over, over the course of this book, in the most delightful way. Interacting with Juliana teaches him that love and family are more important that reputation and tradition. And that a life without fun isn't worth much, even if you have the respect of ...

It won't be long before I've read everything Sarah MacLean has ever written. All but two of her books are sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get around to them. I've read enough of them now that I'm starting to recognize characters across the different books, which only makes me want to read more. I need to hear the stories of all these amazing women and how they found the loves of their lives. MacLean's second book focuses on Isabel, the destitute daughter of a deceased Earl who's trying her best to keep the estate running until her younger brother comes of age and can take a stab at a fresh start. She's proud and self-sufficient and definitely doesn't need to be rescued. (Except maybe financially.) When she crosses paths with Lord Nicholas, who has recently been named a "Lord to Land" in a popular magazine and is fleeing London until his infamy passes, sparks fly almost immediately. Isabel is an absolute delight, and I loved everything...